Hello again,
I have just passed my exam from the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association and attained certification as a Texas Certified Landscape Professional. There are only 20 of us in the state that have both TCNP and TCLP certifications( if you don't mind a little bragging) . But really the reason for getting both of these certifications was my desire to obtain knowledge in these areas, and it also gives me the ability to give my customers truly accurate and up-to-date information on the current favored procedures in landscaping.
One of the new directions, is Reducing the Input into the Landscape. What that means is less maintenance time, less need for chemicals into the landscape, less water, etc. Less input in a broad, inclusive nature.
Choose plants that are native and drought resistant, water only the plants and not the ground between your plants, don't water concrete(like they do at the QuickTime gas station), be able to live with some insects instead of having to nuke all of them, do away with grass as much as possible and replace with landscape beds(grass is great user of water), and so on.
If I could get all who read this blog to do one thing it would be to know why you are doing what you are doing. Please come to the store and ask me for any information. Make sure that, before we dump chemicals on our yards, it is the best necessary action to be taken. Chemicals, inevitably end up in our lakes which are our drinking water supply. Be a good steward of the earth for the generations of kids to come! And I do practice this myself.
walter
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Great Website for Gardeners
Hello everybody,
I have run across an excellent website for gardeners. It is full of useful information. I wanted to send it out to everyone who would like to check it out for themselves.
Dave's Garden: Gardening Tips, Seeds, and Design; Flower Gardens, Organic Gardening
you can search for all sorts of things, including pictures of many varieties of plants.
Hope you enjoy it too!
walter
I have run across an excellent website for gardeners. It is full of useful information. I wanted to send it out to everyone who would like to check it out for themselves.
Dave's Garden: Gardening Tips, Seeds, and Design; Flower Gardens, Organic Gardening
you can search for all sorts of things, including pictures of many varieties of plants.
Hope you enjoy it too!
walter
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Planting Trees-How To
Hello,
Well a lot of people are planting trees here in the dormant season so I thought I would give you what the experts are instructing is the best method.
If you buy trees from my store you will see a tag on them telling your to add MiracleGro potting soil in the hole around the tree ball. WRONG!!!!
The correct method, from the experts, is to dig the hole just as deep as the depth the tree is in the pot that contains it and three times as wide as the diameter of the pot . Ie, root ball is 10" deep and 8" across, you dig hole 10" deep and 24" wide. Set the tree in the hole by handling the tree ball not the trunk. Then fill the hole with the original dirt that you dug out of the hole and firm the soil around the roots so that there are no air pockets. If you want then you can create a burm( like a dam) around the tree about 3' in diameter to hold water when you water. Then water the tree deeply and you are DONE. No fertilizer should be applied until just after bud break in the spring. NO ROOT STIMULATOR or ANY OTHER FERTILIZER when you plant your tree. MiracleGro products all contain fertilizer!
Newly planted trees need to be watered more often than older established trees. I would recommend slow deep watering twice a week unless we have a good rain. Soaker hose on for about 3 or 4 hours would be the type of watering I would suggest. Water needs to penetrate to a depth of 6-8" no matter which method you use.
The tags on HD trees should not be followed.....that represents a method that is now NOT considered to be the best for your trees! OK?
walter
Well a lot of people are planting trees here in the dormant season so I thought I would give you what the experts are instructing is the best method.
If you buy trees from my store you will see a tag on them telling your to add MiracleGro potting soil in the hole around the tree ball. WRONG!!!!
The correct method, from the experts, is to dig the hole just as deep as the depth the tree is in the pot that contains it and three times as wide as the diameter of the pot . Ie, root ball is 10" deep and 8" across, you dig hole 10" deep and 24" wide. Set the tree in the hole by handling the tree ball not the trunk. Then fill the hole with the original dirt that you dug out of the hole and firm the soil around the roots so that there are no air pockets. If you want then you can create a burm( like a dam) around the tree about 3' in diameter to hold water when you water. Then water the tree deeply and you are DONE. No fertilizer should be applied until just after bud break in the spring. NO ROOT STIMULATOR or ANY OTHER FERTILIZER when you plant your tree. MiracleGro products all contain fertilizer!
Newly planted trees need to be watered more often than older established trees. I would recommend slow deep watering twice a week unless we have a good rain. Soaker hose on for about 3 or 4 hours would be the type of watering I would suggest. Water needs to penetrate to a depth of 6-8" no matter which method you use.
The tags on HD trees should not be followed.....that represents a method that is now NOT considered to be the best for your trees! OK?
walter
Friday, January 23, 2009
Spring is Around the Corner
Hi folks,
Now we will be getting a few days of warm weather and you will want to do something in the yard but HOLD ON, don't get too carried away. The average last freeze is around March 15!! Grass is still dormant.....don't put down fertilizer on dormant grass. DO water your plants and grass occasionally because we are in a very dry period and they still need water.
We have our fruit trees in at the store right now, and we generally get only one shipment, so if you want to plant fruit trees, now would be a good time to select and plant.
Later in Feb. we will be getting in our bare root roses and container roses. Also, around Valentines day is the time to do your pruning of roses.
Also, Feb.1 is the time we recommend putting down your preemergent to prevent our broadleaf weeds in the spring. That is just around the corner.
This time period is a good time to prepare your tools for the spring. Sharpen blades, maintenance mowers, etc.
The experts say that scalping your grass IS NOT RECOMMENDED !!!!!!!!
Note: I have Texas Certified Nursery Professional(TCNP) and Texas Certified Landscape Professional(TCLP) certifications from the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association in Austin, representing the nursery and landscape businesses of Texas.
Please do not seed bermudagrass until the latter part of May after temperature of the ground is at least 70, ok? Otherwise your seed will not germinate, and will become bird food.
walter
Now we will be getting a few days of warm weather and you will want to do something in the yard but HOLD ON, don't get too carried away. The average last freeze is around March 15!! Grass is still dormant.....don't put down fertilizer on dormant grass. DO water your plants and grass occasionally because we are in a very dry period and they still need water.
We have our fruit trees in at the store right now, and we generally get only one shipment, so if you want to plant fruit trees, now would be a good time to select and plant.
Later in Feb. we will be getting in our bare root roses and container roses. Also, around Valentines day is the time to do your pruning of roses.
Also, Feb.1 is the time we recommend putting down your preemergent to prevent our broadleaf weeds in the spring. That is just around the corner.
This time period is a good time to prepare your tools for the spring. Sharpen blades, maintenance mowers, etc.
The experts say that scalping your grass IS NOT RECOMMENDED !!!!!!!!
Note: I have Texas Certified Nursery Professional(TCNP) and Texas Certified Landscape Professional(TCLP) certifications from the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association in Austin, representing the nursery and landscape businesses of Texas.
Please do not seed bermudagrass until the latter part of May after temperature of the ground is at least 70, ok? Otherwise your seed will not germinate, and will become bird food.
walter
Monday, December 8, 2008
Here Is A General Timetable For Next Year
General Timetable for the first of next year:
Around the first of February is the time to put down pre-emergent product which you will water into the soil. It forms a layer below the surface of the ground which chemically prevents germinating weed seeds to emerge as weeds. Thus helping to reduce the number of annual weeds that come back from seeds. Your grass is still dormant at this time.
The next basic time will be in early spring as temperatures warm. You will see the arrival of broadleaf weeds in your yard that have eluded the pre-emergent treatment you have put down. These weeds will be weeds that have flowers on them like henbit, chickweed, and dandelions. Notice that your grass is still DORMANT. At this time you have two options to deal with those weeds. If the high temperatures of the days are between 60 and 90 you can spray the weeds with a liquid broadleaf herbicide OR you can simply mow them down to prevent them reseeding. AT THIS TIME DO NOT PUT DOWN FERTILIZER OR WEED AND FEED(these products contain a broadleaf weed herbicide in combination with a fertilizer) PRODUCTS. The reason is that your grass is still not green and will not use the fertilizer. You would be wasting your MONEY.
Later in spring, your grass is now green and actively growing. So if you chose to mow your weeds earlier and not use an herbicide(and the high temps. are about 60), you can NOW apply a "weed and feed" product to your yard and it would make good sense.
If you earlier chose to spray your weeds, then NOW you should simply apply a 100% fertilizer to provide needed elements for your grass to use in photosenthesis to manufacture food for its growth.
PLEASE NOTE THAT WHEN USING A "WEED AND FEED" PRODUCT, THAT YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE THE CORRECT PRODUCT FOR YOUR GRASS. IT IS BECAUSE THE HERBICIDE THAT IS IN THE PRODUCT IS DIFFERENT FOR DIFFERENT GRASSES.
However, any time you are using a product that is 100% FERTILIZER IT CAN BE USED ON ANY GRASS.
walter
Around the first of February is the time to put down pre-emergent product which you will water into the soil. It forms a layer below the surface of the ground which chemically prevents germinating weed seeds to emerge as weeds. Thus helping to reduce the number of annual weeds that come back from seeds. Your grass is still dormant at this time.
The next basic time will be in early spring as temperatures warm. You will see the arrival of broadleaf weeds in your yard that have eluded the pre-emergent treatment you have put down. These weeds will be weeds that have flowers on them like henbit, chickweed, and dandelions. Notice that your grass is still DORMANT. At this time you have two options to deal with those weeds. If the high temperatures of the days are between 60 and 90 you can spray the weeds with a liquid broadleaf herbicide OR you can simply mow them down to prevent them reseeding. AT THIS TIME DO NOT PUT DOWN FERTILIZER OR WEED AND FEED(these products contain a broadleaf weed herbicide in combination with a fertilizer) PRODUCTS. The reason is that your grass is still not green and will not use the fertilizer. You would be wasting your MONEY.
Later in spring, your grass is now green and actively growing. So if you chose to mow your weeds earlier and not use an herbicide(and the high temps. are about 60), you can NOW apply a "weed and feed" product to your yard and it would make good sense.
If you earlier chose to spray your weeds, then NOW you should simply apply a 100% fertilizer to provide needed elements for your grass to use in photosenthesis to manufacture food for its growth.
PLEASE NOTE THAT WHEN USING A "WEED AND FEED" PRODUCT, THAT YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE THE CORRECT PRODUCT FOR YOUR GRASS. IT IS BECAUSE THE HERBICIDE THAT IS IN THE PRODUCT IS DIFFERENT FOR DIFFERENT GRASSES.
However, any time you are using a product that is 100% FERTILIZER IT CAN BE USED ON ANY GRASS.
walter
Monday, December 1, 2008
Composting
To create a compost pile is relatively simple. You can use some chicken wire and 4 T-posts and a little wire to form a U-shaped pen. The essential nature of a compost bin is bacteria, oxygen, weed material, moisture, and time. It is the bacterial action that decomposes the vegetable material aided by the access to oxygen and moisture. When creating the pile be sure to leave occasional layers of coarse material to allow oxygen to be available to the bacteria for decomposition to take place. Add kitchen waste to the pile to introduce bacteria to the pile, then start layering grass clippings and mulched dead weeds along with occasional layers of not so finely mulched plant material to allow oxygen to the pile and then more kitchen waste, etc.
walter
walter
Soil Testing
The first thing any serious article on growing plants and grass does is to tell you to get a soil test to see what your soil needs in the way of amendments. So.....here is the Texas A & M website address where you can do a soil test via mail: http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/
The website will give you all the directions for collecting your soil and submitting it to them for analysis.
walter
The website will give you all the directions for collecting your soil and submitting it to them for analysis.
walter
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
